Music Review

‘Get Behind Me Satan’:
Itching To Be Replayed

By Olivia Farrow (September 18, 2005)

2005 hasn’t been the best year for new records, at least for people with that thirst for rock music that’s the cream of the crop. However, of the tender new bands that are being punched into clothing stores’ speakers and commercial soundtracks, The White Stripes seems to be one of the few groups that can stand being in the extra harsh limelight yet also retain their talents and creativity.

 In Get Behind Me Satan, Meg and Jack White return with their austerely raw sounds that only a girl on a red and white drum set and a boy with a highly-strung guitar can wield. The record is a collection of quality noises of not only snares and guitar licks, but an amalgamation of piano, marimbas, and eggbeaters incorporated into their ballads of starry-eyed anguish and the like.

 Actually, heartbreak is only a chapter of Get Behind Me Satan, which seems to be a religious allusion mentioned in the first track of the CD, “Blue Orchid.” This seething song starts the record with a bizarre, haunting noise that sticks to the roof of your skull and won’t let go. Is it Jack White’s screeching, almost congested voice that leaves one so irked? Or is it his wailing, frantic guitar chords? Whatever it is, this single leaves the owner ready for more.

 And there is more. “My Doorbell” is one of the songs introducing a soulful piano harmony with a slightly asinine, almost gibberish lyrical chorus full of lively percussion. There are similar songs such as “The Denial Twist,” a rhythmic, whipped-up reminder of older White Stripes songs like “Hypnotize” from Elephant and “Now Mary” from White Blood Cells. Such reeling songs are this band’s claim to fame, but the problem with these deliriously fast songs is their length, being less than 2:10 on your elapsed time counter, leaving one thirsty for some longer racket.

 Other songs, like “Little Ghost,” explore the realm of country riffs that leave one preoccupied, while “Forever For Her (Is Over For Me)” exposes a seductive pulse usually heard in songs from Cat Stevens trying to be Bob Dylan living in a garage.

 The latter end of the CD has the mercurial, reeling “Red Rain,” which begins unsatisfactorily, but transforms into a creditable shrieking riff. The subject of the song? I have no idea. But who really cares? If it sounds great, then I’ll play it ‘till my iPod battery dies from exhaustion.

 “Take, Take, Take,” my personal favorite from Get Behind Me Satan, is sustaining and lengthy (at least for this band) with an infectious riff of strumming, piano, and quick lyric spilling. Jack White shows off his unique taste in mixing and his ability to talk about understandable subjects, like meeting Rita Hayworth in some restaurant and bugging her into getting an autograph and picture. The best songs in garage rock land are simple yet strong, and this is one of them.

 Unfortunately, this CD is not without its disappointments. Songs such as “Little Moon,” and “As Ugly As I Seem,” are certainly poetic, but not nearly as catching as the other works. “The Nurse” is also a track that shows up with a dropkick ruckus that curdles the gentle acoustics. But hey, Meg may have wanted that.

 This record seems to have lost a certain air of intimacy that White Blood Cells was swimming in, but this is a characteristic that may be lost forever to the elusive Whites, who were formerly married but lied about their relationship and claimed that they were siblings to the media to avoid a fiasco. Fame can be a blessing and a curse to such styles of music.

 An improvement from the overrated (but still quite decent) Elephant, Get Behind Me Satan will tide me over until I begin my music fasting for fall, when all a high school student can look forward to is Halloween on a weeknight.